"Live from the Living Room" May 14

[Mimi Moriarty reading in the living room.]


With our host, Don Levy, at the Capital District Gay & Lesbian Community Center.

I'm an admirer of the work of tonight's featured poet, Mimi Moriarty. She read a lot of "two-sies": companion poems of various topics, like a rant about pedophile priests paired with a poem about her memories of church; then 2 poems from her book War Psalms (Finishing Line Press). "What I Remember" about her grandfather in the garden paired with "Tomatoes" about her grandmother. Two for her husband, "The River Stout" & "Poem in Which You Are Mentioned." "As She Leaves" about her daughter, "Waving from Shore" her son, then the irresistible "After the Bath" about her granddaughter. "Fire" is a new poem for a friend. Then she ended with a rant against aging (& red dresses & purple hats, etc.) "With Apologies to Jenny Joseph." Neatly constructed, perfectly timed reading.

After the break, Bob Sharkey read a poem by Dennis O'Driscoll, then his own about 1968, "The Inevitable." I tried out a new poem as yet untitled (Don suggested "Shaken, Not Stired") & recited "Church Burner" as inspired by Mimi's reading. Marilyn Day's long rant "Won't" listed why/where she won't read this poem.

Kristen Day took lots of pictures (she's catching up to me) & read "My Heart" & one about her grandmother's funeral, "The Elvis Connection." Matt Galletta told us he had "One New Voicemail." A fixture here, Jim Masters, advised us to "Let Go" & read another poem for a dog named Bishop (there's that church thing again).

It's been a while since Carol Graser was able to make the trip down here; she read a couple poems from her book, The Wild Twist of Their Stems from FootHills Publishing. Shaun Baxter (who really wasn't at WordFest this year) has been compiling "Rejected First Lines of the Bible" & discovered "Prometheus Unbound" working in a convenience store, with Elvis, no doubt.

Our host, Don Levy, finished off the night with a tale of running into Meryl Streep in NYC & with his ongoing commentary on pop culture, "It's the End of the Rumor Mill for Your Gossip Girl."

Every 2nd Wednesday, 7:30PM.